Larry King hangs 'em up; Shaq picks up a baton

Face the future with courage: Larry King has left CNN. Marking the occasion with bright red suspenders, King pulled the curtain down on his talk show on Thursday after 25 years.

King, 77, said this summer he would leave. Once the dominant voice on cable television news, King has faded in a sea of sharp talkers. British talk-show host and "America's Got Talent" judge Piers Morgan takes over the 9 p.m. Eastern time slot in January.

"Good evening, and welcome to the last 'Larry King Live,'" he said as the show opened Thursday. "It's hard to say that. I knew this day was coming. These words are not easy to say."

He was joined at his table by Ryan Seacrest and Bill Maher, who have both filled in for King during breaks in the past. The first guest, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, declared it "Larry King Day" in his state and thanked King for doing his show from Los Angeles.

Maher tried not to let the show quickly become maudlin.

"This is not Larry's funeral," he said. "He's hopefully going to be in our living rooms for a lot of years to come. This is the end of a show, not the end of a man."

King has conducted some 50,000 interviews in a broadcasting career where he worked for decades in radio before joining CNN in 1985. He's recorded more than 6,000 shows for CNN.

Shaq decides he'd rather conduct

Shaquille O'Neal, the former Laker and current Boston Celtic (hiss), has had many nicknames in the course of his career: The Big Aristotle, Wilt Chamberneezy and The Big Baryshnikov, among them. We suggest a new one: The Big Stokowski.

Shaq is taking up the baton. Donning white tie and tails on Dec. 20, he'll conduct the Boston Pops and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in a performance of Leroy Anderson's iconic holiday song "Sleigh Ride" in Boston's Symphony Hall.

Shaq and Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart will hold a press conference a half-hour before the concert.

Lockhart, probably atop a ladder, will also give Shaq a conducting lesson some time on Dec. 20, according to Pops publicist Kathleen Drohan. (Technical note: "Sleigh Ride" is in "cut time," which means that O'Neal will only have to learn a simple two-beat conducting pattern. The piece begins on an offbeat, however, which will probably be the most difficult part of the gig.)

Shaq is expected to take the stage at 8:15 Eastern time.

Video of Shaq's performance will be available on the Pops website (bostonpops.org) and YouTube on Tuesday, says Drohan.

Winona drops bomb

Winona Ryder dropped a bombshell in the middle of her interview for the latest issue of GQ and the internet is all atremble.

It seems that she was just talking about this and that and then the subject of Mel Gibson somehow came up. Happens all the time.

"I remember, like, 15 years ago, I was at one of those big Hollywood parties," Ryder told GQ.

"And he (Mel Gibson) was really drunk. I was with my friend, who's gay. He (Mel again) made a really horrible gay joke. And somehow it came up that I was Jewish. He said something about 'oven dodgers,' but I didn't get it. I'd never heard that before. It was just this weird, weird moment. I was like, 'He's anti-Semitic and he's homophobic.' No one believed me!"

Gibson film slated

While we're on the subject of Mel, his next movie finally has a release date.

Distributor Summit Entertainment announced Wednesday that Gibson's comic drama "The Beaver" will open in limited release next March 23 and expand to more theaters on April 8.

The film has been in limbo amid Gibson's custody battle with ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, who says he physically abused her.

"The Beaver" is directed by Jodie Foster and stars Gibson as a troubled family man trying to cope with help from an unusual friend – a beaver puppet he wears on his hand. The beaver is his "sole means of communicating," says IMDB.com.

Mel should try this in real life. Then he could just claim the beaver said it.

More Careys

Nick Cannon, aka Mr. Mariah Carey, announced on his radio show Thursday that his wife is expecting twins.

Said Cannon on New York's 92.3 station: "I haven't even told my wife I'm doing this so I'm probably gonna get yelled at for not getting permission. ... We are having twins!"

Mariah Carey's publicist Cindi Berger confirmed the news as well.

Cannon said two VIPs did get the scoop: President Barack Obama and wife Michelle. Carey told the first couple during a taping of a "Christmas in Washington" show.

Cannon added: "Both babies are healthy, in tiptop shape."

Carey, 40, and Cannon, 30, have been the subject of a baby watch since they got married after a whirlwind romance two years ago.